Anne Hathaway has begun negotiations to star in director Dee Rees‘ follow up to the Oscar-nominated Mudbound, an adaptation of the Joan Didion political thriller, The Last Thing He Wanted. Cassian Elwes of Elevated Pictures optioned the book from Didion in order to develop it with Rees after their collaboration on Mudbound.
Marco Villalobos has penned the screenplay, which is described as “a thrilling story of one woman, alone and unrelenting in a race against time”, and will revolve around Washington Post reporter Elena McMahon who finds herself on dangerous ground as the Iran Contra Affair’s arms for drugs plot reaches its tipping point.
Didion’s work hasn’t often got the adaptation treatment, with only a 1972 film version of Play It As It Lays so far, though she did herself write several screenplays, including The Panic In Needle Park. Her work is arguably more relevant today than when it was published, so the time is certainly ripe for another big screen adaptation.
The film is already in pre-production. Pairing an Oscar winner in Hathaway with a potential Oscar winner in Rees to adapt a book by one of the most acclaimed writers of the 20th century is pretty much a match made in heaven, so fingers crossed it all comes together.
#Peace.Love.TheLastThingHeWanted
